I have to confess to having a bit of a thing for bunting…

There’s just something about it, don’t you think?  A friend and I had an old school sewing afternoon yesterday, replete with tea, chat and sun pouring in the window.  This little multi-coloured, multi-patterned string was my afternoon’s work…

…and these blue triangles I cut out for the next time.

Before we start on our highlights, I’d just like to point you all in the direction of a new kid on the blogging block that I’ve come to know and love very recently.  Lease is a blog about creating lovely homes on a budget, a subject that’s extremely dear to my cheapskate heart.  And guess what?  I’m in there!  Yep, lovely Susan who writes the blog interviewed me recently on all things thrifty, and she has done a stellar job of writing my incoherent ramblings up into this.  Even if you’re not interested in hearing me waffle about scavenging furniture from the street you should definitely get yourself over to Lease for a look around.  Susan has put tons of effort into getting her little venture a-started, and she has some really great ideas to share too.  There’s a tutorial on how to make a cute kitchen roll holder from a coathanger here and another one on making your own cushion covers here.

So to last week.  What were your highlights?  I’ve mostly been enjoying the weather, drinking margaritas and riding the crest of a sewing bug wave.  Here are the particulars:

• Sharing THE biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever clapped eyes on in my life on Friday.  Washing them down with two margaritas and then burning it all off with a midnight cycle round the city.  In a floaty Summer skirt and four inch heels combo, naturally.
• Finding the first three books in the Narnia series for 99p each in my favourite charity book shop on Saturday.  These will hopefully quench my thirst for children’s literature for a while…
• Going on three runs.  Three!
• Weeding through my baskets of unused fabric pieces and finding enough scraps to make a new quilt.  Sewing a little each day and finding it extremely therapeutic for once (usually it’s a rollercoaster of temper tantrums, tears and swearing).
• Scoring a free Caffe Nero latte.  Yum yum.
• Recycling my old, lumbering, “by the time I’ve loaded myself up hopefully she’ll have forgotten what she was going to use me for” desktop computer and creating a lot more space in my room, not to mention my head.  Making £20 out of it by flogging the monitor to my boyfriend.  Sweet.
• Meeting up with the lovely Holly for a glass of wine and a chat on Wednesday.
• Sitting in the park, in the sun, for a cumulative total of about five hours across the weekend.  Beautifully relaxing as well as productive of a fair few freckles.  Having a picnic on Sunday with hard boiled eggs and smoked salmon/cream cheese sandwiches.  Why does almost all food taste better when eaten outdoors?
• Watching Mean Girls on Wednesday night.  Quote-tastic.

So we arrive at this week: what’s on your list?  So far, mine’s shaping up thus: reading Narnia books (I’m halfway through the second one already…oh the magic!); finishing my new quilt; REVISING (snore); running.  Also, tonight I’m going to attempt to make chilli beef noodles with honey and purple sprouting brocoli.  Spice-tastic.

Image above from Flickr.

Yesterday I had cause to make my first visit to Hobbycraft, the UK market’s latest attempt to convince us that retail parks are cool places to hang out. In case anyone hasn’t heard of Hobbycraft, I think it can be accurately described as a sort of supermarket for creative types. This place sells every kind of material, tool and accessory the would-be crafter could ever hope to purchase, and then some (anyone who has ever struggled with having too much choice would be well-advised to steer clear, by the way).

What struck me as I entered the floodlit aisles of this stadium-sized mecca was just how many ‘hobbies’ (I’ll try to use the term loosely) it caters for. It doesn’t only sell sewing, knitting, cross-stitch and crocheting materials by the truckload, but it also does a remarkable trade in cake decorations, model aeroplane kits, art supplies and stationery. Hobbycraft seems to have opened up a colossal umbrella and is now attempting to usher anyone who has ever done anything even tangentially creative beneath it, promising to cater for their every need, past, present and future. It seems to think that people who paint, people who build models and people who bake cakes are one and the same, and that it’s therefore more than acceptable to bunch us all together like sheep from separate flocks. We’ll all end up at the slaughterhouse in the end, who cares that his fleece is marked blue and mine red?

On top of this, I really found myself struggling to work out how Hobbycraft managed to dream up its catchphrase which if I rightly recall was something along the lines of “the home of great ideas”. I doubt I’ve ever found myself in a place that’s less inspiring, and the only idea that came to my mind as I wandered up and down the soulless aisles was that I wanted to get out of there fast. And that was before I discovered how freakishly over-packaged, not to mention wildly overpriced the stock is. £10.99 per metre of printed cotton fabric (I regularly buy similar stuff for less than half that in my local fabric shop). £9.99 for a modestly-sized bag of what can really only be described as odds and ends for the sewing box – the type of thing you can glean for gratis from old clothes, nice packaging and left-overs from other projects. Hobbycraft seems to think that going to the trouble of putting all those little scraps of fabric, ends of ribbon, feathers and beads into a plastic bag and then presenting them to the customer in clean, warm surroundings somehow justifies their charging a tenner for what is essentially a pile of scrap that anyone with a talent for re-using could throw together for free. It’s the complete antithesis of thrift, and it’s laughable.

I also really hate to think of the impact that the Hobbycraft presence is probably already having on the many independent haberdashers, art suppliers and stationers there are to be found across the country. One of my favourite shops in Edinburgh is the fabric store, an Aladdin’s cave of material, ribbons, buttons, lace and sewing supplies, all reasonably priced, and all piled high on ramshackle shelves in a profoundly chaotic but somehow completely beautiful fashion. It’s a family business, and I seriously struggle to think of an occasion on which I’ve come across a set of retailers with a more robust knowledge of their own trade. These people barely need to measure the fabric when they cut it for you, so keenly trained are their eyes. They also know pretty much every single price off by heart, which is admirable given the vast array of things they stock. It’s a pleasure to linger in such an environment, and I often find myself staying for well over an hour, just to soak it all up and let the ideas flow.

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, the same can’t, at least in my short-lived experience, be said about Hobbycraft. While the staff seemed nice enough, they displayed little enthusiasm for their work, and their faded, cheap-looking “Hobbycraft” sweatshirts spoke volumes. If Hobbycraft really is the home of great ideas, why don’t they start by creating a staff uniform that’s a little more original and a little less DIY store? A decorative badge wouldn’t go amiss at the very least – it’s not like they don’t have every type of material conceivable to the human imagination at their very fingertips. If these stores are supposed to be places to feel inspired before you go off and spend hundreds of pounds on supplies for projects you’ll never get round to, the least this company can do is put some effort into its presentation.

But it’s not about inspiration, is it? Not really. They might want us to think so, but Hobbycraft is really little more than a cynical attempt on the part of the market to capitalise on the recent renaissance of craft-based hobbies and creative enterprises. The ‘make do and mend’ culture has never been more popular, and as a result, never has it been so potential a profit-spinner. I doubt Hobbycraft will ever attempt to brighten up its stores, or inject even a modicum of enthusiasm into its staff. Those things cost money, and are therefore diametrically opposed to the spirit of the entire operation. Better to pay the workers minimum wage (I’m guessing), churn out the cheapest and most generic-looking stores and uniforms possible and just watch, cigars in mouth and brandy glasses in hand, as those monetary savings morph into nice, chunky dividends. Like magic, right? Who needs creativity when there’s money to be made?

And therein lies my biggest grievance about Hobbycraft’s very existence. It’s a sham. It’s not about creativity, it’s not about flair, originality, inspiration or ideas, much as its tagline would have us believe. Hobbycraft is about making money, and making it hand over fist, to absolute hell with the annihilation of everything many of us creatives hold dear.

And that, in itself, is why I won’t be going back.

Image above from Flickr – mrjoro.

One of my mini-goals for July was to wear five things from my wardrobe that I’ve never, or hardly ever, worn.  I managed to complete this one (unlike some others!), and actually had a lot of fun in the process.  Here are my results…

1 – The Broken Sandals

These are some sandals I bought back in 2008.  I love them, but until last month, they had had a broken strap for ages, and had been languishing in the bottom of the wardrobe looking sorry and forlorn.  It really was crunch time for them – either I was going to fix them or they were going in the bin.  And as it turns out, as with so many things in life, when I actually did sit down to look at the problem, I discovered it was completely solvable.  My sandals were still perfectly wearable without the broken strap!  Hurrah for multiple straps!  Since I’ve mended them they’ve barely been off of my feet.  I’m so happy to have them back – they’re even coming to the States in two weeks’ time!  The rest of this particular outfit consists of: a skirt I made here, a purple wrap cardigan I got in a charity shop, my favourite bag and a scarf come sarong from H&M.

2 – The Chavvy Gilet

This gilet I bought in Primark many, many moons back.  I think I love it so much because it’s just so ridiculously tacky.  I mean, seriously.  Oversized fake fur collar?  Michelin Man ‘puffa’ body?  Pockets so tiny they are, in every respect, completely futile?  It’s hilarious, and it makes me happy every time I wear it.  Happy, AND look like this…

You can see the resemblance, right?  Unlike Mr Michelin, I can’t get away with head-to-toe puffdom.  So I wore my chavvy gilet one rainy evening with my absolute favourite hoodie, a pair of flowery wellies which you can’t see, and my ‘bad wardrobe day’ dress, which always makes me feel good.  Winner.

3 – The Sparkly Blazer

This jacket is one of my all-time favourite items of clothing.  A sparkly little blazer that I bought back in the heady days of 2005.  I wore it constantly for two years, and will probably never part with it.  It holds so many memories I can’t even begin to describe.  I haven’t taken it out in ages, however, so I decided to wear it on my birthday.  It came out for dinner, and then on for cocktails and jazz music in town.  Happy again.  I dressed it up with a plain grey vest, the skirt I re-fashioned here and a pink rose brooch that was a birthday present from my brother Michael.  I’ve never met an 11 year-old with such an eye for accessories!

4 – The Homely Cardigan

This little cardigan was 99p.  That’s right, 99p.  I bought it back in 2008 in a sale, but have worn it only once or twice.  I take it out of my wardrobe all the time but for some unexplained reason I never end up wearing it (does everyone have items of clothing like that?).  I discovered last month, however, having tried a little harder than usual to make this thing work, that it’s just perfect for the office.  I wore it to work several times during July, and have completely fallen in love with it.  My boyfriend told me I look ‘homely’ when I wear this.  Is that a compliment?  Worn with a plain white t-shirt and my favourite work pinafore.  It makes me want to file things and be all admin-y and productive before going home to cook hearty casseroles and bake cupcakes.  A nice way to feel, no?

5 – The Grumpy Shoes

Finally, these are the grumpy shoes.  I’ve only named them the grumpy shoes since I began writing this post, and I only did it because I look terribly grumpy in the photo below, where I’m wearing them.  In truth, these shoes don’t make me feel grumpy at all.  In fact, they make me feel rather ladylike and dainty.  I bought these at the start of 2008, but have only worn them a handful of times.  They’ve actually had a good month of it, because not only did I wear them to go round to dinner at a friend’s house, but another friend borrowed them to wear one night as well – two outings in one month, these old boys are doing pretty well!

This is me wearing them, along with an exceptionally sour expression.  There’s absolutely no explanation as to why I look so moody here - I was on my way out to dinner when I took this photo!  Lovely food and great chat and lots of laughter?  Wipe that frown off of your face!  Worn with a heart-print dress from New Look and the same purple wrap cardigan I’m wearing in photo 1 above.  Terrible photography once again, for which I can only apologise.  One day I will master lighting, I promise!

This is the cardigan I dyed at the weekend.

It used to be white.

I now anticipate sunny autumnal days when I look at it.

Plain and boring white buttons off…

…exciting, sailor-esque buttons, taken from an ancient skirt, on.

Instant new look (of course I’ll use the white buttons for something else).

Result!

Happy Tuesday x